When financial analysts argue about whether economies of scale exist in cross border retail banking, they simply need to point to BAC International Bank (BAC). Led by Rodolfo Tabash, the bank is a big player in all the regional markets and, while these are small individually, together they total more than 50 million people.
By developing a single platform in the region and sharing the technology and, in some cases, the back-office functions of subsidiary banks, BAC has created an efficient firm with a visible presence across central America. It is, therefore, not only capturing the growth in these individual economies, but the bank is also seeing growing business through intra-regional trade, which is finally beginning to increase at a material rate.
BAC’s whole business strategy relies on it being the biggest across the region, and on that basis the bank continues to succeed. The bank is present in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, with only Belize not covered.